The fibrinolytic system plays a key role in maintaining normal hemostatic balance. A critical factor in this system is plasminogen activator inhibitor I (PAI-1), which reduces the endogenous ability to remove fibrin by inhibiting plasminogen activators such as tissue type plasminogen activator (tPA). Studies have documented that elevations of PAI-1 are associated with increased risk of deep venous thrombosis. Further, elevations in PAI-1 are found in patients suffering from myocardial infarction and septicemia. Because impaired fibrinolytic capacity is associated with increased cardiovascular risk, lowering PAI-1 should result in cardioprotection. In fact, recent studies on the analysis of PAI-1 levels in pre- and post-menopausal women in the Framingham Offspring Study have demonstrated that post-menopausal women have markedly higher PAI-1 levels, which can be reduced to pre-menopausal levels with estrogen therapy. This reduction in PAI-1 effect is believed to contribute to the overall effect of estrogen replacement therapy on the reduced risk of heart disease.
While PAI-1 can be produced in a variety of tissues, substantial levels are secreted by the vascular endothelial cell. The vascular endothelium constitutes a major organ that functions in the regulation of blood coagulation, inflammation and in the exchange of fluids and mediators between the intravascular compartment and parenchyma tissues. As such, the proper function of the endothelium is critical to overall homeostasis. Because PAI-1 can be increased in endothelial cells in response to certain stimuli, including cytokines, it contributes to a dysfunctional state that can result in coagulation defects, local and systemic vascular inflammation, and enhancement in the progression and rupture of atherosclerotic plaque. These effects can further result in conditions including myocardial infarction, deep venous thrombosis, and disseminated intravascular thrombosis.
Because the local control of PAI-1 at the endothelial cell/plasma interface can play a major role in many pathological processes, agents that inhibit the expression of PAI-1 in the endothelium could be useful in treating or preventing conditions such as sepsis, injuries involving major tissue damage and trauma, systemic inflammatory response syndrome, sepsis syndrome, septic shock and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (including DIC) as well as myocardial infarction, deep venous thrombosis, disseminated intravascular thrombosis, atherosclerotic plaque rupture and its associated sequela.
In addition, tPA (tissue Plasiminogen Activator) is currently administered to patients who have suffered from conditions which place them at risk of detrimental thrombotic events. Exogenously administered tPA has been shown to be effective and is commercially available for treatment of such patients. However, efficacy of this therapy can be limited because PAI-1 inhibits the exogenously given tPA as well as the endogenously derived tPA. Therefore, it would be of great value if an agent were available which could either prolong the half-life or reduce the amount of exogenously administered tPA.
Further, because of the critical role of fibrin in tumor cell biology, agents that modulate PAI-1 may find use as anti-metastatic agents.